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Dark Horse 2012 - Francesca Metcalf

I finally finished up a very busy but ultimately successful fall semester at GA Tech. I decided to kick off the winter break with one of my favorite competitions- The Dark Horse. As always it was held at my home gym, MetroRock in Boston. However, it was a much different competition than previous years- the field of girls was by far the strongest ever at the comp. There were at least 12 girls who were strong enough to climb in finals, which made the red point very crucial since there were only 8 places in finals. I got to the gym pretty sleep deprived and a bit out of practice, but after a slow start, I managed to get enough good climbs to get the last place into finals.

Finals had three climbs that were all really well set and super fun. The first one was a slab with a hard move around a corner that a lot of people struggled with. I managed to get the move on my second try but fell matching the last hold. The last two climbs were both pretty powerful but still tricky. I finished the comp off in fifth place behind Angie Payne, Meagan Martin, Kasia Pietras and Isabelle Faus, who all climbed so strong. It had been a while since I had climbed in a big comp like that, and I had so much fun competing. The Dark Horse is always a blast and it was so great to be back in my home gym.